UPCOMING WORKSHOPS and LESSONS

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS

I hope you can join me for one of these workshops to sharpen your skills, or just try something new! OCTOBER promises cooler days, coastal birds and clouds and coffee-shop sketch classes! Have some fun before the crazy holiday season. My workshops are intense, and intensely fun. I keep them small, so respond soon for supply lists and "housing" info.

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    COFFEE SHOP SKETCH CLASSES    

October 5, 12, 19, 26. 

November 2, 9

6pm - 8pm

Wednesday nights in October and early November.

I will introduce you to a new way to see, sketch and capture impressions QUICKLY!

Learn how to keep a travel sketchbook, and how to SEE in SHAPES, rather than lines and contours...(nothing wrong with lines, but you already see those!)

We explore new drawing media, too...I bring lots of my own stuff for you to try. 

Location: Joel's Coffee House, Lakeline Blvd., Austin, TX. Bring a friend, enjoy fun coffees and Joel's new salad and sandwich menu, along with the usual great handmade chocolates....oh yes, and we will sketch like crazy!

email to sign up

$30 per session or $160 for all sessions

Happy Dog For Mom

Happy Dog ...My last drawing for mom

 

I drew this at mom's bedside. Holding the photo and pad upside down so she could see it right side up...She LOVED when I drew upside down for her! She would just marvel! And for a short moment I could "pretend" to have some sort of edge over her!...We laughed and smiled at each other a LOT. She always wanted me to "draw more animals!", so how fitting that the last art I ever drew for her is a HAPPY, laughing dog!

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On Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013, The Lord came for mom!

He also said YES to three BIG prayers I had been pestering Him with for about 6 years:

1. That she would be READY to go, and not in pain.

2. That she would be in her own comfortable room, and NOT in a hospital.

3. That I would be WITH HER when she left us.

I shouldn't be amazed that God can do such wonders, but I am humbled that He made this so personal to me....T H A N K  Y O U   SWEET L O R D

 

Below is a short excerpt from the tribute (Obituary) I wrote for the funeral announcement.

The Birdseed Project will continue... and now I have the final chapter for the book that will come out in Spring...

TAX DEDUCTIBLE donations (instead of flowers!) can be made here, but please designate Birdseed Project on the envelope

 

 Make check payable to Threefold Cord Ministries and mail it to

Threefold Cord Ministries, P.O. Box 540591, Omaha, NE 68154.

 

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My Mom (Doreen Westaway Pedro) had enduring ears to hear sorrows, but knew when to tell you to “snap out of it”. And if her discipline was hard, she quickly restored and mended the wounds…usually with a comment to make you laugh through the tears.

 

Mom insisted on FUN. Laughter, or else!…she had more fun than any of us ... Wherever she went, people NOTICED her, because a spark of laughter would rush in with her, and she would look you in the eye, so you knew you were included in the fun. People felt special around “mom”, so they liked her a lot. 

Mom circa 1942...                      ... and 2007 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antler Demo

Antler Demo___For Students and Chiaroscuro and Chocolate Workshop__Sept 27
My September focus has been on DRAWING. Both in my professional workshops, my high school teaching and also with contest entries.(more on that later).
Here is a quickie demo I enjoyed doing for some high school students. They really got into this one, which I did with water soluble graphite....I hope you can zoom in to see the detail, which is quite RUGGED :)
At Thursday's drawing session "Chiaroscuro and Chocolate", I have been sharing all these cool drawing materials...this isn''t "LINE DRAWING", but my approach is very different...LET ME KNOW if you want to join us for a few hours Thursday in north Austin, TX. Cost is $30...plus chocolate fees  :)

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Here are some locations for a few of my workshops. email me if you want more info on any of these...

See this SPECIAL ONE. ...I can't wait to see the water go down the drain BACKWARDS there!

September 27__Austin___ "Chocolates and Chiaroscuro" contact V...,. 

Oct. 28-30__Texas__Full Moon in Fredericksburg Artists School

2013___New York City, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania...

2014___February 23-March 1___New Zealand

**BE SURE to tell me if you sign up! I like to send things to my students to get them ready, keep them "seeing", and thinking, and talking about it!

Sketch of M.C.

Sketch of M.C.___a lesson on values
Each week my art students have sketches to do on their own. I usually take THEIR sketchbook and do a demo so they can see what it is I am looking for.
This one is about CONTAINING the shape of the values...(that is, the light areas and dark areas on a face)...contain by outlining the shape of the value, whether it be a shadow or a highlight....If you can see a shape, and get its size and proportion "right" in relation to the shapes around it, you can draw a pretty good likeness, and do it fairly quickly!...I am not sure these high school students believe me, so I show them! This one is M.C.....

Romeo_Upward

Romeo__Upward__9x12 pastel pencil on archival paper__from my sketchbook

I do not remember what he was looking at, but Romeo let me shoot the photo which I used for this sketch.

I tweaked my blog today. On the right side I added some things, including a picture of my book about the farm. And at the bottom of the page is a neat gadget to click and preview the first 15 pages of the book. If you have not seen the book, please go to the blog, scroll to the bottom, and turn the pages! It's really cool...and if you want to, you can order from there, too! If you get this post in an e-mail, click this link to go to the blog. If you want to get my postings in an e-mail, let me know, and I will add you to the group that gets the pictures FIRST...let me know vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Little Bird

"Little Bird"_____10 x 7.5 pencil on watercolor paper____$50

A lesson in texture! This one is drawn on tetured watercolor paper, and the drawing itself is made with a textured stroke, sort of like cross hatching. It's also an example if leaving out some lines so that the viewer's eye can finish the drawing....This is always a good lesson for the young artists I worked with, who often think they have to OUTLINE everything...

Tomorrow I head off to Rockport, TX to teach ART TEACHERS. Art Educator Days is an annual event where I teach a couple different workshops to give ideas to other art teachers. Last year I taught a "Chicken Clinic". This year I am teaching "Seven Strokes", creating a painting with 7 strokes. And,"Pre-Mixing".. I wish I had called it somethng else, because it's about shapes of values and color...I will teach this lesson at a couple of workshops this year..please ask if you are interested! vvaughan8@yahoo.com

Feb, 7... Rockport, TX (1 day, Drawing to Paint)

Feb. 21 ...Calvert, TX (1 day, Sunrise, Moonrise)

Mar. 7 ...Rockport, TX (1 day)

April 6 - 9 ...Granbury, TX (4 day - comprehensive, in-depth workshop in an elegant place, !!!)

Apr. 18... Rockport, TX (1 day)

April 27 - 30... Gadsden, ALABAMA (4 day - comprehensive)

May 30 ...DeSoto Art League, TX (1 day)

June 5-7... Fredericksburg, TX (Painting Fast - every day, and what to do with all those paintings!)

Fall ...in New Orleans (with EATING in our off hours)

Observer__12x9___V....Vaughan

"Observer"---12 x 9 pencil on archival paper__$75 if you ask first!
Romeo , our "good dane" strikes another pose. I have to be careful when drawing him, because if he sees me looking at him, he thinks I need a hug from him and gets up to come over and "lean" on me. I have to be discreet and look away when he looks my way.
Today it has been exactly a year since I left the farm. So, it was a special treat to get to go paint the sunrise again on my favorite land. I was joined by a few members and friends of Plein Air Austin. The sunrise was MAGNIFICENT and awe inspiring...I will post the paintings next week.